Pancakes for everyone!

Блог 6

         So cultural blunders... Here's one of my new ones... My host mother and I were talking about Russian names because when I went bowling I found it funny that every board had the same list of names: Ivan, Tatiana, Anya, Sasha, Olya, etc. There is very 

The Neva half frozen on our walk.

 little variation to me. On the street and in history it seems that everyone has one of five set names. That can get frustrating since I go by Katya and respond to it when someone says it near me. My host mom responded by saying that America is the same. Everyone's name is Michael or John or Sarah. This got into a conversation about Russian names that I like and I said I've met a few Anastasias, and a lot of people I know love that name because of the animated film. She was quiet for a while, and then, visibly tearing up, explained to me that she could never name her daughter that because of the weight the name carried. She became very upset thinking about the death of the Romanov family that I had to change the subject. I have noticed that only professors and tour guides don't get choked up when speaking about those tragic events, because they have been desensitized. This was an easy mistake to make,  making light of a story from a movie, but to my host mother that is very recent and obviously very difficult to face. I made my host mother cry. I am a bad person… 

St. Isaac's Cathedral from below.

          Anyways, last week Sasha and I (mostly Sasha) discovered an Indian restaurant and walked there from the Island upon which we live. There are officially 42 islands in the city of St. Petersburg. There used to be around 100 but for reasons my Culture teacher told me very quickly in class, there are now 42. So Sasha and I walked around our neighborhood, across the Neva, to the Bronze Horseman, past St. Isaac's Cathedral which is the largest church/cathedral in St. Petersburg (and Russia, I think, but don't quote me), and after a lovely dinner she, Anya and I attempted to go to the Opera. When I say attempted, I mean that the building was beautiful, small and intimate, but the version of La Boehme presented was basically Rent with no microphones and an orchestra that was too loud for the actors. The show was a big disappointment that ended for us when the first act of a classic opera concluded with actors in neon bunny ears (yes, like Easter bunny ears). I can't understand why they would bother doing La Boehme and staging it as an unusual version of Rent, but we think we may have seen a rehearsal which is how the tickets were so cheap.

The Bronze Horseman (got its name from
the poem. Wasn't called that
originally).

          Friday I went and got Russian doughnuts, called pishky which taste like funnel cake but not all sketchy and festival-y. They are amazingly delicious and only 12 rubles each… This is very dangerous for me. After that we had a very dubious adventure at a Georgian restaurant. The problem we encountered was that we didn't know the names of any of the foods so we just went off of what meat was in the description and hoped for the best. The best dish was kind of a chili with lamb and whole pomegranate seeds. Very unusual and amazing. I had a lamb stew that was supposed to be spicy but instead just burned my tongue because it was ridiculously hot. That concluded last week, and just leaves the weekend. Saturday was a night in, but Sunday is an entirely different story.
          Sunday, St. Patrick's day for you, was the big Maslenitsa celebration for us. Surprisingly, St. Patrick's day is not as big here as one might think (yes, sarcasm), but Sunday was the first time I have seen so many Russians smiling at one time. Maslenitsa is the Russian equivalent of Fat Tuesday, just colder and involving a lot of blini, or pancakes. Blini are basically crepes that you put cabbage or jam or anything in, and the point of this holiday is to enjoy as much butter and blini  as you can before Lent. You eat blini because, with the butter, they represent the sun, so it's a way of inviting the sun to come out. Another way to entice spring... The other traditions of the day are also ways to say goodbye to winter and welcome spring. To do that you buy a scarecrow type doll dressed as Mother Winter and stick her in the snow. Then you light her on fire. That's the best part... I wasn't prepared for that on my way to school Friday, and on my walk I saw what looked like a burning cross or effigy. Well, if you're from America and you see something that looks like a burning cross, you start to get pretty worried. The effigy thing was a bit concerning but I was genuinely worried it was a cross. Fortunately it was just Mother Winter, but still it was rough to walk anywhere near that when I had no other way to get to school…
          Sasha and I went to one of the smaller islands, Krestovsky ostrov, which has a very large and seemingly endless park. We wandered for a few hours, got lost for a while, walked across some rivers, watched Russians smile and dance and act silly (of all things for a Russian to be!) which made the very cold day an absolute delight. I bought a bunch of silly souvenirs, including lollipops in the shape of roosters (why?) and some lovely traditional wood items. After that we went to a Ukrainian restaurant and tried their green borsht (not as good as in Ukraine- frankly it was awful). Sasha had the chicken Kiev and I had sautéed potatoes and bacon (kind of) covered in very strong, raw, green onions. Neither were worth repeating, and while the restaurant was adorable, the food did not equal the décor. 

Large doll that will
be lit on fire.

Our Maslenitsa dolls!

On fire in the snow!

       Other than that, I've mostly been dealing with the weather. This is, apparently, an unusually cold spring. My host mother and teachers keep assuring me that it will get warmer, but I don't believe them. I keep seeing photos of buildings in St. Petersburg during the summer with grass and trees, and I am convinced they are photo shopped. All I see is grey and snow with a little wind on top. It takes effort to get out of bed every day, simply because it is a chore to put on as many layers as I predict I'll need through the day, go out into the bitter cold, take an hour to get to school in a crowd of grumpy, miserable, fur covered Russians, only to get yelled at for accidentally bumping into a babushka. One thing that always brightens my day, though, is the sight of the little old, dripping with fur babushkas wearing Uggs. There is nothing funnier than seeing a fashion statement for twenty-somethings in California be used for warmth by little old ladies.

A sign in the park that reads, Beware Squirrels! Russian

squirrels be crazy!

          I am working on remembering the tiny little things that happen every day that make me laugh or things that I find ridiculous, but when it comes time to write things down, I can never remember what they were. One and a half more weeks until my travel week, though! Can't wait to tell you all about it and I promise there will be tons of pictures. Have I told you guys where I'll be going? No? Good- no spoilers! Hope you all are enjoying shorts weather, light jacket weather or sweater weather… My ski socks and many layers of leggings envy you greatly. Send me your warmth and sunlight, and have a good week!

Better late than... well... you know...

Блог 5

          So just what I thought would happen, happened! I committed myself to publishing on Sundays and here we are on a Tuesday… Anywho- this will be a very eclectic post so I hope you can all follow my weird and random train of thought!

Vegetable casserole, chicken and beef soup.

      This week was more of the usual but with some fun additions! Wednesday I took a Georgian cooking class and learned how to cook goodness knows what. We made pirogi which are pies in which you take dough and wrap it around a giant ball of egg and cheese 

Our lovely cooking class,

(mostly cheese) and then roll it out so the cheese stays in the middle but the pie is, you know, pie shaped. Then bake it and it becomes delicious and melty. We also made a beef soup with onions and chili peppers and tomatoes, a chicken dish that tastes very similar to my dad's chicken cacciatore, and a vegetable casserole which was the most unique of all. It was layers of grilled zucchini with a sauce made out of chili, garlic and walnuts that were put through a meat grinder. Super easy to do at home if, you know, you happen to have a meat grinder lying around... I am thinking of going to the Russian cooking class on Friday and learning how to make borscht. The cook that taught us was a classic large scary man who spoke no English and either thought we were ridiculously stupid, or absolutely hilarious. We like to hope it was the second.

Cheese Pirogi!

          Thursday was my friend's birthday so we started the evening at none other than the lovely SPB and moved on to ladies night at a very large, noisy, bright club called Club Metro or some such nonsense. A giant neon building with three floors of dance floors, smoke and bars. It was fun but maybe not something I ever want to repeat. I did hang out with some Russian people (finally) and it was a generally good night all around. Friday was International Women's Day, which is a much bigger deal in Russia than anywhere else ever. Vosmova Marta (Eighth of March) is Women's Day and not only did we get the day off school, but every woman in a person's life receives flowers. I bought my real and host mothers flowers (though received none myself- harrumph) and took a true "women's day" and stayed in my pajamas while watching Gone With the Wind with Alexa… While I may have missed partying it up on the holiday, like  my host mother did, I decided to take a personal day. I stand by my choice.

Дворец Юсуповых на Мойке,
literally the Palace of the Yusupovs on the Moika

          Saturday morning was excellent because I took a tour of one of the most amazing and extravagant palaces in Russia, the Yusupov Palace. This palace is famous for many reasons, the main one being it was where Rasputin was murdered by the owner, Felix Yusupov. Now if you're like me or anyone else who grew up in the 90s, Rasputin was a crazy Russian magician or religious wise-man or something voiced by Doc from Back to the Future who was trying to kill Meg Ryan while John Cusack tried to save her. Meanwhile Angela Lansbury and Bernadette Peters are looking for Meg Ryan in Paris… 

The room in which Rasputin was shot with helpful
yet creepy wax figures.

Apparently that's not quite the story. Rasputin was a very religious man that got in very close with the last of the royal family, the Romanovs right before they were killed, partially because he had some way of helping Prince Alexei with his hemophilia, which he inherited from his mother (women only carry the gene but men have the issues) who in turn inherited it from her maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria. Rasputin spent a lot of time with the royal family and the three daughters of the Czar which many people resented and found suspicious. Many nasty rumors flew around and many believed he had too much influence for someone with basically no noble blood or heritage. Long story short, Felix and a bunch of others tried poisoning him and failed, shot him and failed, shot him again and threw him in a frozen part of the river. Rumor says that he was found with water in his lungs which means he was alive after two gun shots. This can't be confirmed because Empress Alexandra didn't let them autopsy him, and the train in which his body was being transported was burned to the ground.
          Anyways, the Yusupov Palace is the most extravagant place ever. The Yusupov family had a long history of diplomacy, Nicolai Yusupov was high up in government under at least four Czars including Catherine the Great, Paul I and Alexander I. They were one of the richest families in all of Russia, but when the revolution happened in the early 20th century, Felix and his wife had to leave the country and all of their possessions and moved to France. Well, almost all. They took the jewelry and two Rembrandts. Among the jewelry was the very famous La Pelegrina pearl that, after the family sold it in France, was eventually given to Elizabeth Taylor. They were so rich that when designing the palace they had different styles for each room. One room would be baroque, another in gorgeous Moorish style, the next French. The palace has a personal theatre which makes it one of the most extravagant palaces in Europe. There are rooms devoted entirely to their musical instrument collection, imitation wood, real pear tree furniture, ballrooms, a billiard room with weirdly perfect acoustics, and a gorgeous library that used to have thousands of books! It was amazing. If ever in Petersburg, I highly recommend a tour.

The amazing private theatre!

          Today (Tuesday) I had two tests, one largely on the architecture of St. Petersburg (who, what, when, where, for whom) and the other… well I'm still not sure what that quiz was on. I also found out that I have the best host mom ever. When she hears me coughing she makes me milk and honey, even in the middle of the night… At least I thought it was milk and honey but then it was warm milk and butter… Gross. This upcoming week should be very fun and we are currently preparing for Travel Week which will be AMAZING and I can't wait to tell you all about it. No spoilers, though, because it gives me less to write about when the time comes. Trust me- you will all be jealous!

Шла Саша по шоссе и сосала сушку...

Блог 4

           On my more rebellious days here in Russia, when my host mom isn't home, I occasionally walk around the house without my slippers on. It gives me a sense of being home, not wearing slippers. See, here in Russia it is very rude to wear your shoes in someone's home. You take your shoes off at the door and they give you a pair of tapachky (slippers) to wear, or in your own house you have your own special slippers. It's rude to walk around in bare feet or just in socks, so when I'm alone I will sometimes walk around in shoes or in my socks… The problem is that now I can't do it. I feel this overwhelming guilt when I do, like if Larisa Sergeevna saw me she'd be so terribly disappointed. I'm very sad because now I stand at the door to my room about to go to the kitchen in my socks and inside it feels wrong. I automatically turn around and put my tapachky right back on… This is about as eventful as my week has been. 

Hanging out with Alexander Menshikov in the
Russian Museum!

          So this week… This week was pretty standard. Not much went on with class. We have definitely settled into a routine. It is getting harder for even the professors to stay awake during our 90 minute classes. My worst day is Tuesday because I am in class from 10:00 until 5:00 p.m. with only a 30 minute break in the middle. Very annoying. My phonetics class is the surprising dark horse of my courses, being my unexpected favorite. The professor is this beautiful woman (which is why the guys in my class bother to show up) with long dark hair and the classic Russian bangs. She is tall and skinny and wears all black dresses with tall black boots and always has a bright red manicure. Very dramatic. If I hadn't made the decision early to find everything in that class hilarious, it would be miserable, but she laughs at everything and listening to people repeat tongue twisters (in Russian, skoragavorky) over and over again becomes hilarious with enough imagination. Those with the worst accents/ strongest American accents make class worth it because she'll just stare at them as if they've grown two heads when they can't roll their Rs or pronounce a soft L. She seems to find the fact that I think everything is hilarious equally as entertaining, so I think we have a good thing going.

A close up of an amazing work, The Last Day of Pompeii,
a truly enormous work by Karl Bryullov.

          While my teachers may like me, I am finding it surprisingly difficult to meet Russian people my age. We were at SPB on Friday (because where else does one ever bother to go?) and a Russian, Slava, came up and started talking to us and it was all going very well until we started talking to his friends. To say they were racist would be the understatement of the century. There were a few men in the booth behind theirs who were (this may be indelicate) from Nicaragua and Brazil and who were black. My friend, the ever amazing Sasha/Alexa went up to them to chat and the Russians with whom I was speaking were shocked that she would bother. They proceeded to tell me how far below Russians and white people these black men were, and said many other things that made me more than uncomfortable. It is, of course, their country and I am a guest, but we decided that maybe we'd go talk to Sasha's new friends instead. We made friends with the Brazilian Navy Seals who speak Portuguese, Spanish and Russian very well and were very pleasant. Slava stayed with us for a while, and all seemed to go well. The trouble with this is that all of them started to become a bit overfriendly. This is the trouble with trying to meet people here. They hear you are American and come to the instant conclusion that you are looking for more than friendship. I am still working on finding real Russian friends to simply hang out with and talk, but so far no luck.

My new favorite painting, A Parisian Woman,
by Alexander Deyneka.

          The nicest people I have met are always the waitresses that find the fact that our Russian is just awful hilarious. Saturday was a very interesting and fun day with very nice waitresses and very confusing adventures involving bowling. The day started with a tour of the Russian Museum, which is by far my favorite place on earth, so far. I could live in that museum and be completely happy. The stories and portraits are truly stunning. I love hearing stories about Catherine the Great and the work that Russian artists put into their amazing pieces. Even the modern section was stunning, if confusing at times. I bought a few posters while I was there, which was very exciting because they are old Soviet propaganda posters, mostly against Hilter but also a lot about joining together to defeat, this or that enemy. They're pretty much awesome. The tour was very good. So good, in fact, that we gained two Chinese tourists for the entire tour who kept stepping in front of everyone's pictures.

Can't remember the name/artist but truly stunning.

          After the museum we went out for lunch. It was my friend Rhiannon's birthday (technically it was on the 29th of February but that presented some difficulties this year) so we grabbed lunch (101 rubles for borsch, blini, and tea!) and decided to go bowling. Bowling here is very confusing. I believe that the Russians imported bowling alleys but forgot to import actual bowlers to show them what to do. Watching them bowl was definitely a highlight of my trip. While I am terrible, I'm pretty sure I don't look absolutely ridiculous while doing it. It was very difficult to get a lane, shoes, and understand exactly what was going on because I was the only one willing to talk to anyone in Russian. My head always gets very tired when I become the group spokesperson. Lots of translating. Finally we figured out that, no, we were not in fact allowed to open a cake and eat it there, so after interesting bowling and being lied to about when a lane would be open for us, we left and went to a restaurant. We weren't allowed to eat cake their either, but after about 1:00 a.m. they seem to stop caring. It was very enjoyable, even after having to call two taxis, one of which did NOT look legitimate in any way. The language barriers make for interesting times, especially when I'm being counted on to get everyone to the right place after the metro closes. Today is Sunday and I was going to go to the Kuntz-Kamera museum today which is both free and full of weird scientific oddities collected by Peter the Great. According to Wikipedia it was the first museum in Russia and focuses on anthropology and ethnography. I decided I'd rather shower and do homework, but I will be going sometime this week so I won't give away any spoilers just yet!

          I think I have decided that these blogs will be coming out on Sundays, since those are my days with the most down time. I don't want to promise one every Sunday, because not all weeks give me something to write about. This week was a bit dry, except the Russian Museum and birthday adventures. Hopefully I'll have some interesting things to say, but in the mean time I would like to take a second to thank everyone who has been reading this! I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. I love sharing my adventures with all of the people I love and this will make it easier when I get back! I won't have to catch anyone up on my last four months! Thanks for reading, guys!

Here's a super groovy song that I sing for phonetics class all the time. Hope it gets stuck in your head as often as it does in mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJxEkEFMNcM